By Henry Weinberg, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, and Laura Rushfeldt, AIA, LEED AP

Humans have an innate desire to connect with nature, yet we spend听nearly 90 percent听of our lives indoors. In academic settings, where students learn,听live听and socialize, this disconnect can have real consequences for focus, mental听health听and well-being. Mass timber construction offers a powerful way to bring the warmth,听texture听and psychological benefits of nature indoors, while also advancing sustainability goals and, in many cases, matching or outperforming traditional steel construction on cost.听听

A growing body of research shows that biophilic design, the integration of natural elements, particularly wood, into the built environment can improve cognitive performance, creativity and mood while reducing stress and fatigue. Spaces that incorporate visible wood elements are consistently perceived as warmer and more welcoming, fostering social interaction and a stronger sense of belonging. For higher education institutions focused on student wellness and community-building, these qualities are increasingly viewed as essential.听

CBT Architects is applying these principles at听Cornell University鈥檚 Maplewood Graduate Housing Phase II, a new off-campus residential community designed to house 800 graduate students. At the center of the project is a freestanding听Community Center, referred to as the Clubhouse, conceived as the social and programmatic 鈥渉eart鈥� of the development. Entirely constructed from mass timber, the pavilion-style building听demonstrates听how biophilia, sustainability and cost responsibility can align.听

The 11,000-square-foot, single-story Clubhouse will听consolidate听wellness and community programs into a single central location, becoming a highly visible show point and social hub for leisure and connection.听听A floor-to-ceiling window wall wraps the public areas and reinforces the project鈥檚 strong indoor-outdoor connections by offering unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape and flooding the interior with daylight.听Adjacent to听the building, a generous spill-out terrace supports听indoor-outdoor听dining,听events听and daily relaxation鈥攆urther strengthening the connection between architecture and nature.听

The Biophilic Advantage of Mass Timber听

Utilizing approximately听84 cubic meters听of mass timber, including glue-laminated (glu-lam) columns and beams and cross-laminated timber (CLT) ceiling panels, the fully exposed structural elements allow occupants to experience the material directly, visually,听spatially听and emotionally.听

This exposure is key to maximizing biophilic听benefit. Unlike steel, which typically requires layers of fireproofing and finish materials, mass timber can remain visible, allowing its natural grain,听color听and texture to define the interior character. The result is a simpler, thinner assembly made up of fewer materials, reducing embodied carbon while enhancing aesthetic impact.听

By centralizing both community programming and mass timber construction into the Clubhouse, the design听consolidates听benefits for all residents. Rather than spreading timber features thinly across multiple buildings, the project achieves maximum impact with a focused investment, creating a shared social hub where biophilic design is experienced daily.听

Rethinking the Cost Conversation听

One of the most persistent misconceptions about mass timber is cost. While early projects carried premiums tied to perceived risk and uncertainty around emerging building systems, as well as limited supply, market conditions have shifted rapidly. As more manufacturers come online and design teams gain experience, mass timber is increasingly achieving cost听parity with, and in some cases outperforming, traditional steel construction.听

At Maplewood, the design and construction team conducted side-by-side cost analyses of steel and mass timber structural systems at multiple design milestones. The results consistently showed comparable material and construction costs. Several factors influenced this听outcome-.听听

First, the Clubhouse鈥檚 modest scale made it less efficient for steel fabrication shops, while mass timber providers, particularly those听seeking听to expand in the Northeast, were eager to deliver a highly visible, proven project. Competitive bidding at one pricing milestone showed mass timber coming in lower than steel.听

Second,听designing for听mass timber from day one allowed the team to听optimize听the building around material efficiencies. As a single-story, Type V structure with a听relatively small听footprint, the building does not听require听a fire-rated ceiling assembly. This enabled the use of 3-ply CLT panels instead of thicker 5- or 7-ply assemblies, reducing material volume and cost.听

Third, efficient structural spans further streamlined construction. Glu-lam elements are spaced at 15 feet on center, allowing simple one-way spanning without the need for deeper primary framing elements such as girders. This structural clarity simplified mechanical distribution, reduced coordination complexity, and supported faster installation鈥攄elivering schedule efficiencies alongside cost control.听

Finally, pricing stability played a role. Steel costs are historically volatile, influenced by global demand,听tariffs听and energy prices. Mass timber pricing, by comparison, has tended to be steadier, offering owners greater predictability during design and procurement.听

Henry Weinberg, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is an Associate Principal at CBT Architects.

Laura Rushfeldt, AIA, LEED AP, is an Associate Principal at CBT Architects.

Read more and see additional project images in the 2026 Higher Education issue of 糖心少女.

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By Lindsey Coulter

FAIRFIELD, Calif. 鈥� Community leaders, educators, and project partners gathered on Aug. 8 to celebrate the completion of a four-building expansion at Golden West Middle School in Fairfield. The ribbon cutting ceremony and open house marked a significant milestone for Travis Unified School District, as the campus can now welcome its first cohort of sixth-grade students in more than two decades. The sixth graders will join seventh and eight grade students for the 2025-26 academic year.

Work on Golden West Middle School鈥檚 campus expansion campus will be completed in two phases. Phase I included the addition of four new 1-story buildings by TimberQuest that will help support the district鈥檚 efforts to reorganize grade levels. Together, the buildings add approximately 19,000 square feet of new space to the campus, including classrooms, a teacher鈥檚 workroom and restrooms. The project also encompassed site work, adding a staff parking lot as well as new basketball and tennis courts and perimeter fencing. The project team broke ground in February 2025 and was completed on schedule. Work occurred across near 3.7 acres of the nearly 14-acre campus of Golden West Middle School Campus.

鈥淚t’s not often, given today鈥檚 fiscal pressures, that schools can provide learning spaces that match the excellence of their instructional programs,鈥� said Travis Unified School District Superintendent Tiffany Benson in a statement at the ribbon cutting ceremoney, 鈥渂ut that鈥檚 what makes this accomplishment so significant.鈥�

The expansion was delivered using TimberQuestTM, a prefabricated mass timber building solution which adds permanent, high-quality learning environments that support the district鈥檚 long-term vision for growth, flexibility and student wellbeing. Travis Unified School District leaders selected TimberQuest鈥檚 DSA pre-approved solution, allowing for expedited design and permitting. General contractor XL Construction was able to construct the buildings in only six months, delivering the buildings in time to open for the new school year.

The project team also included structural engineer Daedalus, contractor Elevated Construction Services, mass timber and CLT provider Kalesnikoff Mass Timber, general contractor XL Construction and architect Aedis Architects.

鈥淭his was truly a collaborative effort,鈥� said Nick Cardin, Project Executive at XL Construction. 鈥淭he district had a clear vision, and we were proud to help bring it to life quickly and in a way that prioritizes students and educators.鈥�

The project will now enter Phase II, projected to end in August 2026, which includes demolition and removal of the existing administration building and construction of a new multiuse and administration building.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. 鈥� Michigan State University鈥檚 future STEM Teaching and Learning Facility will be the first in Michigan to use an innovative wood product, rather than concrete and/or steel, for its load-bearing structure.

Known as mass timber, this framing style uses large solid or engineered wood. The $100 million facility will be constructed of glue-laminated wooden columns and cross-laminated timber, or CLT, a relatively new product for the floors and ceilings.

鈥淎s a leading public research university, MSU has the fantastic opportunity to showcase these innovative and sustainable construction methods in the state of Michigan,鈥� said Satish Udpa, MSU鈥檚 acting president. 鈥淚 am delighted to see university operations, including building construction, pull from our state鈥檚 history as a lumber leader and mesh with the engineering capabilities of advanced materials.鈥�

CLT is a wood panel made from gluing layers of solid wood at cross-grain to result in a lightweight and strong panel. It鈥檚 been used in Europe for more than 20 years, with recent interest in Canada and the U.S., especially on the West Coast.

鈥淲e compared mass timber with other framing methods and were intrigued by how far wood has come as a building material,鈥� said John LeFevre, MSU鈥檚 Planning, Design and Construction director. 鈥淎 major advantage is the speed of construction 鈥� the panels can be assembled very quickly.鈥�

The new building will be constructed around the former Shaw Lane Power Plant, adjacent to Spartan Stadium. The renovation will include a student science studio space and a vibrant commons area with a cafe. Two new mass timber wings will offer 117,000 square feet of modern teaching labs, responding to STEM course demand, which has increased 40 percent in the last 10 years at MSU. The project architect is IDS with Ellenzweig Architecture, IDEO Design and Sasaki Design. Granger Construction Company is the construction manager.

The pleasing aesthetics of exposed wood also create a warm, inviting and atypical environment for learning science.

鈥淚 am excited to see the educational, research and outreach opportunities that the building itself promises to many academic units and to our land-grant mission,鈥� said Ron Hendrick, dean of MSU鈥檚 College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. 鈥淚t is an interdisciplinary platform encompassing forestry, construction management, biosystems engineering and beyond, and can serve as a catalyst to develop this new technology in Michigan.鈥�

Many believe the MSU building will catalyze additional mass-timber construction in the state, which might lead to establishing CLT manufacturing in Michigan.

鈥淢ichigan is ideally situated to become a leader in mass-timber manufacturing,鈥� said Mark Rudnicki, Michigan Forest Biomaterials Institute executive director. 鈥淲e have abundant forest resources that are managed sustainably and the manufacturing know-how. But there is not a building CLT manufacturer in the central U.S.鈥�

Michigan DNR officials agree.

鈥淗aving a CLT manufacturer in Michigan would not only create green jobs using sustainable resources, but also provide the financial resources and incentives that are needed to restore and conserve healthy, diverse and productive forests that provide so many other benefits,鈥� said Debbie Begalle, state forester and chief of the Forest Resources Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The building is slated to open in fall 2020 with classes beginning in January 2021. The wood panels are being manufactured in Quebec and will arrive on campus in April.

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But the campus, home of the Razorbacks, is precisely where the project is located and the cabin concept isn鈥檛 the location of a backwoods thriller but a national design collaborative led by  (Boston),  (Fayetteville, AR),  (St. Louis), and  (Philadelphia), created the project, now under construction.

The 708-bed Stadium Drive Residence Halls feature exposed, locally harvested wood structural elements made from mass timber. And what is this 鈥渕ass timber?鈥� According to the website (produced by the The Softwood Lumber Board, a Washington, D.C.-based industry funded group that promotes uses of softwood lumber products in outdoor, residential and non-residential construction), mass timber is a category of framing styles often using large panelized solid wood construction. These include cross-laminated timber (CLT), nail-laminated timber, glue-laminated timber, dowel-laminated timber or glulam panels for floor and wall framing.

The University of Arkansas project used CLT for its wooden columns, beams and cross-bracing, which are all visible in the interior. The structural columns and beams are made of glulam, where layers of wood all facing the same direction are laminated together under pressure. Part of the idea, according to a profile in The , was to 鈥渢o present a sense of warmth, and to connect students with Arkansas鈥檚 local ecology鈥� and is expected to be finished in 2019.

Clocking in at a staggering 202,027 square feet, the Stadium Drive Residence Halls are a pair of five-story buildings festooned with a zinc-hued paneling, whilst copper-colored panels are arranged such that they created the illusion of floating against their backdrop.

The three residence halls converge upon a plaza and also feature classrooms, dining facilities, performance spaces, administrative offices and faculty housing as well as the maker-spaces that have become de rigueur on contemporary campuses.The buildings themselves arc around three courtyard areas, and each hall has a double-height ground floor lobby outfitted with floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the local flora.

Att the end of each residence hall floor is a large study room, which will be lit at night and serve as luminous attractants for the entire campus. In keeping with the homespun vernacular, students access the northern building鈥檚 main entrance via a covered 鈥渇ront porch.鈥� Likewise, the so-called 鈥渃abin鈥� is the central room that conjoins the hall鈥檚 two wings. The cabin features a hearth, community kitchen and lounge spaces, topped by a green roof.

The project will cost between $75.5 million and $78.1 million, which will be funded through university housing cash reserves as well as university housing supported bonds and gifts from potential donors.

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